Warren Pickett yclept

"The modern age has a false sense of security because of the great mass of data at its disposal. But the valid issue is the extent to which people know how to form and master the material at their disposal." Wolfgang von Goethe, 1832.

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2004's Model

H3S Fermi surface.

Illustration of the topological change of the constant energy surfaces in H3S that provides the van Hove singularities that makes this simple compound the current highest temperature superconductor. Red circles indicate touching surfaces, red ellipses outline low velocity regions of intersecting surfaces.

Dynamics of Superconducting H3S

In 2014 Eliashberg theory (carried out in China) predicted that hydrogen sulfide H3S would become a super-high temperature superconductor at the very high pressure of 1.6-2 million atmospheres. In 2005 Eremets' group in Germany measured and found superconductivity up to 203K at 1.6 million asmospheres, the same amazing result. One of our contributions has been to perform an ab initio molecular dynamics simulation of atomic vibrations of H3S at a temperature of 200 K and the experimental pressure. The hydrogen vibration amplitudes are very large; in a metal with normal (heavy) nuclei, the vibration would hardly be visible. Note: this video (click the title) may be slow to load.

Fermi surface & Nesting function.

Superconductivity and lattice instability in compressed lithium from Fermi surface hot spots. Lithium superconducts up to 20K at high pressure, before structural phase transitions (lattice instabilities) occur, limiting higher Tc.

Heavens

Contact Warren Pickett wepickett@ucdavis.edu